Just Dead
by permolle
Summary: An alternate ending to the Being Human series finale - Hal and Tom may have been cursed by the devil, but Alex was just dead. HalxAlex and TomxAllison
1. Where

Just Dead

_An alternate ending to the Being Human series finale - Hal and Tom may have been cursed by the devil, but Alex was just dead. HalxAlex and TomxAllison_

**Chapter One - Aftermath**

"Is everyone okay?" Hal asked tensely. He had heard Tom gasp and cough dryly from where he knelt on the other side of the table. "Alex?" he inquired of the silence from where he remembered her falling. As the noiselessness continued another beat, Hal's eyes grew wide. "Alex!" he barked as Tom shot up and spun around as though he thought had been unknowingly sitting on her.

"ALE-" "-ALEX!" the two shouted in disjointed unison. "Where is she?" Tom asked desperately, forgetting to be angry with the friend from whom he had come to expect all the answers.

* * *

Words broke through the fog of unconsciousness: something the ghost had not experienced for far too long and was reveling in, before she was so rudely disrupted. "Is everyone okay?" he had said. "Oh yeah; nothing like saving the world and taking my first power nap in months to put a little spring in my step!" she grumbled, feeling sure enough that the answer to Hal's question was 'yes' to be sarcastic.

"Alex?" she noted a strange urgency in his voice. Thinking that perhaps her snappy remark was too muffled by the carpet to be audible, she pulled herself up to respond more clearly. The words died on her lips and the expression of survived-the-apocalypse smugness on her face was abruptly replaced by one of horror.

He was staring right through her.

* * *

For nearly half an hour Hal had been uncharacteristically upending the house in search of Alex. It made no sense. Could her door have appeared while they were unconscious? No, she would have waited to say goodbye. Wouldn't she? The wrongs he had done her swam through the stormy seas of his panicked mind: lies, cruelty, manipulation. Even if she hated him, she would always love Tom. Alex would never abandon him without a word, the way her mother had abandoned her. She had to be here somewhere; why couldn't he find her?

The pacing figure abruptly froze, let out a wounded howl and slumped against the wall, sliding into a squat with his head in his hands, oblivious to her comforting embrace.

* * *

Even though she still hadn't fully forgiven Hal, she couldn't bear to see him like this: so distraught, so full of pain. Apparently neither could Tom, Alex thought distractedly as the young man mirrored her invisible pose, crouched beside the broken form of his friend.

It reminded her of the time her brother had tripped and broken his wrist while running away with her diary: she was going to get him good…as soon as he was feeling better. The only way that Hal was going to feel better would be if she found some way to communicate with him.

Suddenly feeling like an idiot, Alex smacked her forehead and leapt up to search the kitchen for a pen and a pad of paper. Right there by the telephone where she left it! Figured that it would be the one thing still in place after that evil-devil-tornado fiasco. Honestly, how Hal hadn't already broken out all of the cleaning supplies they owned - there were quite a lot of them because of him - was beyond her. Alex snorted.

She reached for the pen and was surprised to see her hand disappear into the tile countertop. Taking a deep breath and scrunching her nose in concentration, she made a second attempt, this time succeeding only in rolling the writing instrument about forty-five degrees. She was getting frustrated and more than a little scared.

What if, as she knew Hal worried, the ritual HAD taken more out of her than it had them? Suddenly the lamp flickered. It lasted less than a second, but was enough to attract Hal's attention. He was in the kitchen quicker than she could have imagined possible. "Alex?" he whispered softly, as though he feared that his words would blow her away. "I'm here!" she cried. "Why can't you see me?"

* * *

Tom, with eyebrows somehow even more sad-looking than normal, appeared in the doorway and crossed to where she was in order to both command Hal's attention and block his exit. Tom's coincidentally precise positioning would have made her laugh, if it weren't for the terrifying fact that he had intersected her so easily: neither of them had felt a thing – not even the usual shiver.

"Since you're so worried about Alex…" he began carefully. "…Does that mean that you're the good Hal again and I don't have to kill you?" He looked so pitifully hopeful at the thought of not having to lose another friend Alex could have cried.

"No."

"So you're bad Hal, then?" Tom's gaze remained locked on the vampire's while his fingers searched the inside of his heavily armed jacket and his jaw clenched.

"Both. Neither. I can't explain it." Tom looked simultaneously relieved and confused.

* * *

Alex was in shock. She no longer heard her friends' discussion just inches from her. She swore she had seen Hal's reflection in the window, but that was impossible, wasn't it? If he were human again, that would explain why he couldn't see her.

He had told her that vampires' existence was made possible by a deal with the devil - immortality in exchange for souls - and so that they would never forget it, he took their reflections as well. Was it possible that Hal's deal had been called off; that he had been given his humanity, as some sort of reward? He had to know!

She tried to rent-a-ghost into the bathroom, and, as with the pen incident earlier, was surprisingly incapable of it, opting to run up the stairs and down the narrow hallway instead. She had to make some sort of noise to get him up here, get him to see what she saw downstairs. Her hands kept slipping through everything solid that she grasped at.

Before, her fear and frustration had caused an electrical disturbance, but now, even though she was just as upset, nothing happened. Back in the kitchen, the boys finally discovered for themselves what she had been trying to tell them. "The wolf is gone!" shouted Tom in amazement. Hal, still greatly distraught over Alex's disappearance, even though he now knew the most likely reason for it, was having a much quieter celebration.

* * *

That night they slept in the living room, afraid that they might miss a miraculous reappearance of the ghost they hoped was still around. Seeing the pained expression on Hal's face by the moonlight, Tom gave up all pretense of trying to sleep. "I'm sure she's fine. We just can't see her right now. We'll see her again soon. We'll figure something out."

"Why hasn't she given us some sort of signal then, some message, hmm?" Hal asked, more cruelly than he had intended to. Softening at the young former-wolf's hurt glance, he said, "I am just concerned. The last time one of these rituals was performed, all of the participants perished. I still cannot explain the... unique elements of the aftermath of this attempt."

"You mean us being human again?" Tom asked. "I wonder if all of the vampires and werewolves get to be humans or just us because we're the ones who beat 'im. I'm wondering about Allison."

"You should call her in the morning." Hal suggested. "That way, if she is human, great, congratulations. If not, she can help us find Alex." Tom grinned. "Sounds good." He murmured, sinking comfortably into the couch at the thought of being with her. His newfound light-hearted mood prompted a cheeky remark. "You should really try this sleeping thing, Hal. I know you're out of practice, but loads of people think it's just swell." With that, he drifted off, totally unaware of the nightmare unfolding invisibly only feet away.

**A.N. Ooh cliffhanger! Let me know what you think so far. It would make my day to know that someone took the time to read this. Do any of you know whether Allison has seen Alex as a ghost yet? If nobody tells me, I will just have to re-watch my favorite _Being Human_ episode ever: _Puppy Love! _What a bother. ;)**


	2. What

**A.N. So apparently I can only brainstorm successfully while washing dishes at work. I had to keep sneaking around the corner to scribble fresh ideas on an order ticket I had crumpled in my pocket up against the ice machine before I forgot. I think my boss noticed… Hope it was worth it!**

"Alex… if you're here," Hal began in a husky voice. He had spent five minutes working up the nerve after he had finally gotten Tom out of the house, assuring him that he was in perfectly acceptable condition to pick Allison up from the station. "… I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. That night when I lied to you about the blood and we kissed. N-not that we kissed!" Hal stuttered, becoming flustered. He was not used to being so vulnerable.

"The kiss meant a lot to me. I…" he took a long breath. "…love you; more than just as a friend - you are my best friend, next to Tom." How cheesy could he possibly get? Hal beat himself up inwardly until he remembered that this generation of girls was raised on a steady diet of over-the-top, cliché romanticism in popular culture. The glimmer of hope that thought brought him vanished when he realized to whom he was speaking: Miss Tomboy. She would never have bought into any of that. And why should she now? From a monster no less!

Convinced to reassert himself over this embarrassing, totally derailed catharsis, Hal decided to be honest with her: more honest than he had been with anyone - including himself - in a very long time. "When I was a vampire," Was. _Past_ tense he thought, half bewildered and half amused. "the only love I fully understood was lust - bloodlust - which only ever served to harm the object of affections." Hal cringed inwardly at his formal speech that Alex loved to imitate mockingly. He admired the way she made fun, but never went over the top, never bullied. He supposed she had learned that skill by being a big sister. Alex was incredible.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he continued, pulling himself out of the daydream, "so I didn't know how to love you." Hal winced. There he went again with the lines straight out of Hollywood. "I was afraid. I was afraid of myself. I was afraid of what I would do to you." _I was afraid of what you would do to me,_ he added silently, knowing that that particular mindset of his would be hard to explain, especially with this one-sided method of communication.

"I am still afraid," he admitted. "However, now I am willing to try. Now that I am human I can love you properly. I can be what you deserve. If -" his voice cracked "-if you come back to me. Please, Alex." For the first time in decades, hot tears rolled down his cheeks. He touched them lightly, full of wonder, as though he had forgotten what tears were, forgotten he was capable of producing them, and then let them fall - into the corners of his mouth, down his lowered chin. "Just come back!" he wailed.

* * *

All night, Alex had been slumped against the wall of the den, concentrating on keeping herself together - literally. Somehow she knew that if her focus wavered in the slightest she would crumble into a thousand pieces of dust and drift away into oblivion. She was so exhausted that she didn't realize that she wasn't supposed to feel exhausted: that was one of the many sensations normally reserved for the living.

Her eyes were closed when she heard Hal start talking. She was glad to hear his voice. She felt so lonely, taking on such a massive feat all by herself. As glad as she was that Tom and Hal's dream to be human had come true, she missed them. The world of the supernatural was a hard place to exist without friends. Poor Hal. How on earth had he done it for so long?

Hal's hushed voice was so very comforting that Alex let go of some of the tension in her shoulders and gave a small, blind grin. Suddenly, his soft murmurings gave way to wracking sobs and her eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern. Giving a weak pout, Alex fought to open her eyes and help him. What could have possibly reduced her Hal - strong, stoic Hal - to such a state? Something positively awful must have happened to him.

She sighed, but was forced to quickly abandon all efforts to soothe Hal when another wave of sickness came on, threatening to dissolve her completely, to take her away from him forever.

* * *

When Hal heard the young lovers' giggles from the front door he jolted up and futilely attempted to readjust himself by wiping his puffy eyes with his shirt and smoothing it down hurriedly.

Catching a glimpse of Allison's large suitcase, he idly considered its implications, unaware that the first thing she said to Tom was that she was only on a three-week holiday from school, not wanting him to jump to any conclusions. She knew that any other boy would be put off by the idea of his girlfriend moving in so quickly. Then, Tom was different and one could never be sure exactly the way he would take something like that.

Allison recalled this morning, when she had heard Tom's voice for the first time in much too long. She had been sitting alone in the dorm doing some independent research on her laptop. It was only the first day into winter break and already the school was deserted. Everyone in the Frye House except her and a sulky boy whose only previous interactions with her consisted of hunching his shoulders into his hoodie and shuffling past her in the hallways had gone home for the holidays.

When she picked up her buzzing mobile and heard Tom say "I need to see you," she was glad for the first time since she woke up to the eerie silence of the abandoned campus that she had not made plans with her family. "I've been through a lot lately," he continued. She gasped and whispered into the receiver conspiratorially. "I highly suspected that the Barry Suicides were supernatural in origin! Pssh! Poisoned gas? Come on." She could feel Tom smiling on the other end of the line. "I can't wait to see you Tom. I'll be on the 12 o'clock train."

"Hello Allison," said Hal, desperately trying to mask the lingering fog of raw emotion in his voice, "It's good to see you again." He watched her closely as she approached the den's entryway. It was now or never, he thought grimly. "Ah, you t-" she halted. Apparently it was now.

"Oh my God!" the female werewolf shouted, scurrying to the corner where Tom and Hal now assumed Alex to be. "What did you do to her?" she demanded accusingly of the ex-vampire, who did not protest. Even if he wasn't directly responsible for whatever had happened to her this time, he had hurt Alex in the past, Hal reasoned as he stared intensely in the direction Allison was gesturing as though he might suddenly gain the ability to see ghosts if he went without blinking for long enough.

Tom, however, who could not stand to see his girlfriend and best mate at odds, stepped in, "No, it wasn't him who killed her! There were these other vampires and they-" She cut him off. "I mean after she became a ghost!"

After a moment of wordless confusion, Allison shook her head. "Can't you see her?" She sniffed lightly and gaped at Hal with incredulity. "You're human?" She spun to face Tom. "You too? What happened?"

"Never mind that. Complicated. Alex?" Hal demanded curtly. As if she had forgotten what brought this mind-boggling information to light, Allison turned. After a quick appraisal of the fading ghost, she said, "Yeah she looks awful. Like, really sick or something. She isn't solid at all and she hasn't reacted to anything. What do we do?"

**Well i hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks so much for the reviews. Just because I don't think i've said it yet and it seems to be the custom around here, I would like to state that I (obviously) don't claim to own anything; this is just for fun. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


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